More than 5,000 soldiers are being axed in a fresh round of defence cuts – despite Britain wading deeper into the battle against terrorists in Africa.

Former commanders said the controversial cuts were ‘too deep’, leaving the Army perilously overstretched and unable to take on all the major military commitments demanded by ministers.

Under the latest round of redundancies, the Army will shrink to 90,000 – its lowest level since before the Napoleonic Wars began 200 years ago. Some troops currently risking life and limb on the front line in Afghanistan face the axe next year, the Government admitted.

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While he has ruled out sending combat
troops, he is preparing to deploy Sentinal R1 spy planes and special
forces in the wake of the insurgency in Mali and the Algerian terror
attack.

But critics raised concerns about the
wisdom of continuing to slash the Armed Forces when the battle against
Islamic fanatics was shifting to Africa.

Colonel Richard Kemp, who
commanded British forces in Afghanistan, said: ‘These cuts are too deep.
On Monday the PM said we had a decades-long struggle with international
terrorism, as illustrated by recent events in Algeria and in Mali.

Mr Hammond said medics in the Navy and Air Force would be cut in the next round of job losses

‘This struggle cannot be maintained
without sufficient resources.

'The PM and his successors will continue to
commit British troops to defend the nation’s interests overseas,
irrespective of how small the forces gets.

‘Of course our troops will rise to the
challenge but in doing so they will pay a price in overstretched and
inadequate equipment.

‘The cost of our fight against world
jihad has to be paid by somebody and it should be the taxpayer – the
soldier should not be called upon to bear an unequal burden.’

This Government has been responsible for some of the most severe defence cuts ever.

Under the Strategic Defence and
Security Review (SDSR), the MoD said it would cut the Army from 102,000
to 82,000 – small enough for every soldier to fit inside Wembley
Stadium.

Some 5,000 personnel each from the RAF and Navy have already
been made redundant.

The Government wants to replace regular troops by
doubling the number of part-time soldiers to 30,000.

Shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy
called for the ‘flawed’ defence review to be reopened because it had
been ‘exposed by world events’.

He said: ‘The threats have increased and
yet the Army is being cut. The Prime Minister rightly spoke of the
urgency of the Islamist terror threat to the UK from North Africa.

Captain Wales as he is known in the British Army, races out from the VHR (very high ready-ness) tent to scramble his Apache with fellow Pilots, during his 12 hour shift at the British controlled flight-line in Camp Bastion southern Afghanistan

David Cameron was challenged in the Commons yesterday by former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell over the impact of cuts on Britain's ability to mount military operations around the world

'But
in a “carry on regardless” strategy, the Ministry of Defence has
announced 5,000 Army redundancies.

‘There are real worries about the
military impact of a loss of skills and capability at a time of
increased threats and new global challenges. Many will fear ministers
are unprepared for threats we face.’

Defence Minister Mark Francois
insisted the Armed Forces retained the capabilities required ‘to meet
the challenges of the future’. Redundancies would not ‘impact adversely’
on operations in Afghanistan, he said.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond
added: 'The Army is actively managing recruitment to reach the target
numbers, but unfortunately redundancies are unavoidable due to the size
of the defence deficit that this Government inherited and the consequent
scale of downsizing required in the Army.’

Ministers are taking the axe to the
Armed Forces to save £4.7billion from the defence budget and plug a
£38billion equipment overspend.